Friday, December 21, 2012

SAP Close To Buying Sybase, Bloomberg Reports; SY Up 50% (Updated)

SAP (SAP) is reportedly close to acquiring database and mobile software provider Sybase (SY) for $6 billion, Bloomberg is reporting.

SY shares have spiked on the report, and are now up $20.88, or 50.2%, to $62.45.

Update: So, a few rumors, and some facts. First, at least one source tells me he has been hearing rumors of a deal between the two companies for a few days now; another source contends SAP’s board is meeting about a possible Sybase deal. Back in the land of the concrete, SY ended the March quarter with around $980 million in net cash; SAP as of the end of 2009 had $2.7 billion in cash and only $1 billion in long-term debt; for a company with a nearly $54 billion market cap, this seem like a reasonable deal. Back out the $1 billion or so in cash, bringing the true cost down to $5 billion, and the deal would be for about 4.4 times estimated 2010 revenues of around $1.25 billion. Of course, nothing has been confirmed, so it all could be hooey.

Update 2: The Bloomberg story attributes the report to “two people with knowledge of the matter,” and says that one of the sources said “the deal could be announced as early as today or it could fall apart.” The report indicated that SAP did not immediately return a call seeking comment, while Sybase didn’t have an immediate comment.

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